The Fat Angel Sings

The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesquepop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography.

After Wood’s departure in 1972, Lynne became the band’s sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group’s only consistent members.

If ELO bestrode the 70s like a colossus, then the 1980s and beyond would prove a far different prospect for the band. During the 1970s and 1980s, ELO released a string of top 10 albums and singles, including two LPs that reached the top of British charts: the disco-inspired Discovery (1979) and the science-fiction-themed concept album Time (1981). In 1986 Lynne lost interest in the band and disbanded the group.

In 1968, Roy Wood was the guitarist, vocalist and songwriter of the Move, Wood had an idea to form a new band that would use violins, cellos, string basses, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound, taking rock music in the direction to “pick up where the Beatles left off”. The orchestral instruments would be the main focus, rather than the guitars. Jeff Lynne, frontman of fellow Birmingham group The Idle Race, was excited by this concept. When Trevor Burton left the Move in February 1969, Lynne was asked by Wood to join, only to say no, as he was still focused on finding success with his own band. But in January 1970, when Carl Wayne quit the band, Lynne accepted Wood’s second invitation to join, on the condition that they focus their energy on this new project.

When Wood added multiple cellos to a Lynne-penned song intended to be a Move B-side, the new concept became a reality and “10538 Overture” became the first Electric Light Orchestra song. The original plan was to end The Move following the release of their Looking On album at the end of 1970, crossing over to the new unit in the new year, but to help finance the fledgling band, one further Move album, Message from the Country, was also recorded during the lengthy ELO recordings and released in mid-1971.

The Electric Light Orchestra

The resulting debut album “The Electric Light Orchestra” was released in December 1971. Only the trio of Wood, Lynne and Bevan played on all songs, with Bill Hunt supplying the French Horn parts and Steve Woolam playing violin. It was released in the United States in March 1972 as “No Answer“. The name was chosen after a record company secretary had tried to ring the UK company to get the name of the album. They were unavailable so she left a note reading “No Answer”. “10538 Overture” became a UK top-ten hit. With both band’s albums in the stores simultaneously, the Move and ELO both appeared on television during this period. with a line-up of Wood, Lynne, Bevan, Bill Hunt (keyboards/French horn), Andy Craig (cello), Mike Edwards (cello), Wilfred Gibson (violin), Hugh McDowell (cello), and Richard Tandy (bass). However, this line-up did not last for long. First Craig departed, and then Wood, during the recordings for the band’s second LP.

“10538 Overture” soon became the new group’s mission statement, the opening fanfare on a debut album described by Melody Maker as “a gas”. Wood’s leftfield sensibilities led the nascent ELO into what Lynne later called: “some really strange places”, but “10538 Overture” was a top ten UK hit.

Lynne was still a member of The Move, alongside Roy Wood and future ELO drummer Bev Bevan, when he wrote what became the very first ELO song, “10538 Overture“. With Wood playing a cheap Chinese cello, multi- tracked by Lynne, it sounded to Wood like: “a monster heavy metal orchestra”.

Taking Hunt and McDowell with him, Wood left the band to form his own band Wizzard. Despite predictions from the music press that the band would fold without Wood, who had been the driving force behind the creation of ELO, Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bevan, Edwards, Gibson and Tandy (who had switched from bass to keyboards to replace Hunt) remaining from the previous line-up, and new recruits Mike de Albuquerque and Colin Walker joining the band on bass and cello, respectively

ELO 2 

The band released their second album “ELO 2” in early 1973, which produced their second UK top 10 and their first US chart single, an elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic “Roll Over Beethoven” (which also incorporated the first movement of Beethoven’s own Fifth Symphony).

After a promising start, ELO could have fallen at the second fence when Roy Wood quit during the making of this album to form Wizzard. But Lynne carried on with an expanded line-up, and the album was moderately successful. With just five tracks on its original vinyl format, ELO II has a heavy progressive rock influence, most evident on the King Crimson-Beatles hybrid In Old England Town and the 11-minute Kuiama. But the best song was Mama, the first sign of Lynne’s pop genius.

During the recording of the third album, Gibson was let go after a dispute over money, Mik Kaminski joined as violinist, and Walker left since touring was keeping him away from his family too much. Remaining cellist Edwards finished the cello parts for the album.

On the Third Day,

The album, On the Third Day, was released in late 1973, with the American version featuring the popular single “Showdown”. After leaving Wizzard, Hugh McDowell returned as the group’s second cellist, also in late 1973, in time to appear on the “On the Third Day” cover in some regions, despite not having played on the album.

Although it bombed in the UK, ELO’s third album was a minor hit in America, where “the English guys with the big fiddles” were a major concert draw. Marc Bolan played lead guitar on this album’s big rock tune, “Ma-Ma-Ma Belle”, and to Lynne’s great delight, John Lennon raved about the album’s hit single “Showdown”, subsequently dubbing ELO “son of Beatles”.

Lynne paid his own tribute to Lennon on “Bluebird Is Dead”, and went completely overboard with a rocking take of Grieg’s “In The Hall Of The Mountain King“. But “Showdown” is Lynne’s favourite song on an album even he admits is “very obscure”.

Eldorado

For the band’s fourth album, “Eldorado“, a concept album about a daydreamer, Lynne stopped multi-tracking strings and hired Louis Clark as string arranger with an orchestra and choir. ELO’s string players still continued to perform on recordings, however. The first single off the album, “Can’t Get It Out of My Head”, became their first US top 10 hit, and “Eldorado, A Symphony” became ELO’s first gold album. Mike de Albuquerque departed the band during the recording sessions as he wished to spend more time with his family, and consequently much of the bass on the album was performed by Lynne.

The concept itself was somewhat vague. “It’s about a dream world,” said Lynne. But undoubtedly, “Eldorado” saw a big leap forward for ELO. Working with a full orchestra for the first time, Lynne was finally able to realise the sound that was in his impressively furry head.

Following the release of “Eldorado”, Kelly Groucutt was recruited as bassist and in early 1975, Melvyn Gale replaced Edwards on cello. The line-up stabilised as the band took to a decidedly more accessible sound. ELO had become successful in the US at this point and the group was a star attraction on the stadium and arena circuit, and regularly appeared on The Midnight Special more than any other band in that show’s history with four appearances (in 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1977).

The album’s centrepiece, “Mister Kingdom“, is a grand orchestral take on “Across The Universe“. But best of all is Can’t Get It Out Of My Head, one of Lynne’s most beautiful songs.

Mobile Fidelity will be releasing a sonically pristine reissue of ‘Eldorado’, written & produced by Jeff Lynne, in UltraDisc One-Step 180-gram 2LP Box Set, 180-gram single LP,

Face the Music

“Face the Music” was released in 1975, producing the hit singles “Evil Woman”, their third UK top 10, and “Strange Magic”. The opening instrumental “Fire on High”, with its mix of strings and acoustic guitars, saw heavy exposure as the theme music for the American television programme CBS Sports Spectacular in the mid-1970s. 1975 was a strange year for ELO. “Face The Music”, was their fifth album, in the UK it didn’t even chart.

It did, however, produce a UK hit single, albeit belatedly. “Evil Woman“, a song initially dismissed as filler by Jeff Lynne, gave ELO their first domestic top ten hit in three years, and set them up nicely for the next album, A New World Record.

“Evil Woman” remains one of ELO’s best-loved songs, a genuine 70s pop classic and the highlight of an album that includes several great songs (“Strange Magic”, “Waterfall”) and one outright turkey, the daft “Down Home Town”.

A New World Record

Their sixth album, the platinum selling “A New World Record“, became their first UK top 10 album when it was released in 1976. It contained the hit singles “Livin’ Thing”, “Telephone Line”, “Rockaria!” and “Do Ya”, the last a re-recording of a Move song recorded for that group’s final single.  

This was their big international breakthrough. Hitting the top ten in every country in which it was released, “A New World Record” sold five million units worldwide. Its title, inspired by the Montreal Olympics, which held the world’s attention while the band were recording in Munich, was fitting for an album that elevated ELO to global fame.

At home, the album produced three top ten singles, the last being a prime example of Lynne’s classical/ rock style, complete with boogie riff, sawing strings, trilling opera singer and references to Wagner.

Casey Kasem said that the Electric Light Orchestra is the “World’s first touring rock ‘n’ roll chamber group” before he played “Livin’ Thing”.

The song “Telephone Line” from the album “A New World Record“, which was released in 1976. It was the last album that they released until 2006. The song also got many good reviews from music authorities as the group created the taste of Revolver and The Beatles without mimicking them.

Out of the Blue

A New World Record was followed by a multi-platinum selling album, the double-LP Out of the Blue, in 1977. Out of the Blue featured the singles “Turn to Stone”, “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, “Mr. Blue Sky”, and “Wild West Hero”, each becoming a hit in the United Kingdom.

Jeff Lynne’s magnum opus is one of the classic double albums, his answer to The Beatles’ White Album, and ELO’s crowning glory. Lynne wrote the whole of “Out Of The Blue“, 17 songs, in just four weeks, alone at a Swiss Alpine retreat. He later recalled: “The mountains were lit up, and I came up with “Mr Blue Sky.”

A mini-symphony in itself, Mr Blue Sky was the touchtone for an album on which Lynne gave full rein to his ambitions: a deluxe rock odyssey incorporating dazzling arrangements, state-of-the-art studio wizardry and, most importantly, great song writing. Selling eight million copies in a year, it was a global smash.

The uplifting song is creating a feeling of a rainy day that is ending. It was described as ELO’s signature song many many times. The song was also used in numerous films and TV shows.

The band then set out on a nine-month, 92-date world tour, with an enormous set and a hugely expensive space ship stage with fog machines and a huge laser display. In the United States the concerts were billed as The Big Night and were their largest to date, with 62,000 people seeing them at Cleveland Stadium. The Big Night went on to become the highest-grossing live concert tour in music history up to that point (1978). The band played at London’s Wembley Arena for eight straight sold-out nights during the tour, another record at that time.

By the end of 1979, ELO had reached the peak of their stardom, selling millions of albums and singles, During 1979, Jeff Lynne also turned down an invitation for ELO to headline the August 1979 Knebworth Festival concerts. That allowed Led Zeppelin the chance to headline instead.

Discovery

Then again, in stylistic terms, 70s prog really only had punk and new wave as antagonists to contend with – 1979’s “Discovery” was the band’s first No.1 album in the UK and their biggest selling album to date. The 80s, however, was a decade beset with constant stylistic shifts – the perpetual hunt for a new marketable angle hardly conducive to a musician of Jeff Lynne’s pedigree.

“Confusion” As the title reveals, the song is about the inner conflicts of a man. They used a recent technology of the time for the song, Yamaha synthesizer.

Although the biggest hit on the album (and ELO’s biggest hit overall) was the rock song “Don’t Bring Me Down”, The inspiration for this timeless song “Last Train To London” comes from the times that the group spends on trains between Birmingham and London to attend radio and TV shows.

By 1979 ELO were one of the biggest bands in the world, but Jeff Lynne faced a tricky dilemma: how to follow an album as brilliant and successful as “Out Of The Blue?“

Lynne’s response was bold, to say the least. With disco music still flourishing, ELO got funky. Amazingly, it worked. “Discovery” was ELO’s first number one and produced four UK top ten singles: “Shine A Little Love”, “The Diary Of Horace Wimp”, “Don’t Bring Me Down” and “Confusion/ Last Train To London“. Moreover, ELO’s signature sound remained largely intact. “Discovery” has its critics, but it’s the last great album of ELO’s golden era.

That said, Lynne began the decade with change afoot. “Discovery” was the first ELO album not to feature cellists Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale, or violinist Mik Kaminski, although all three were on the ensuing tour.

Xanadu

On ELO’s 1981 concept album “Time”, Jeff Lynne pondered mankind’s future and sang in a voice from a far-off age: ‘Remember the good old 1980s/When things were so uncomplicated…’ What Lynne the visionary didn’t foresee was ELO’s demise in the coming decade. But they began the 80s with another massive hit, albeit one that alienated many rock fans. Xanadu, the soundtrack to a silly Hollywood musical, featured five songs by the movie’s star Olivia Newton-John (including a sappy duet with Cliff Richard), four by ELO, and a camp title track performed by ELO and Newton-John together. Mercifully, ELO’s songs were strong, especially “All Over The World“, one of the last classics from the band’s golden era.

Time

When ELO released their first album of the new decade, “Time“, in 1981, the band were settled a the Lynne/Bevan/Tandy/Groucutt quartet, but many things that had set ELO up as one of the most spectacularly popular bands of the 70s were about to change.

It’s strange that an album that went to No.1 in the UK should end being largely forgotten many years down the line, but so it is with “Time“. It is revered by some diehard fans as one of ELO’s greatest albums. It is one of the most ambitious records that Jeff Lynne ever created – a concept album in the classic prog rock tradition, based on time travel, but with the influence of synth-pop prevalent throughout, and some wonderful songs including Twilight, Ticket To The Moon and Another Heart Breaks. If there is a lost classic in the ELO catalogue, then this is the one.

In 1981, ELO’s sound changed again with the science fiction concept album “Time“, a throwback to earlier, more progressive rock albums like Eldorado. With the string section now departed, synthesisers took a dominating role, as was the trend in the larger music scene of the time; although studio strings were present on some of the tracks conducted by Rainer Pietsch, the overall soundscape had a more electronic feel in keeping with the futuristic nature of the album. 

“Time” topped the UK charts for two weeks and was the last ELO studio album to be certified platinum in the United Kingdom. Singles from the album included “Hold On Tight”, The high-tempo song is about being tenacious about your goals and dreams. It has quite inspiring lyrics. “Twilight”, “The Way Life’s Meant to Be”, “Here Is the News” and “Ticket to the Moon”. However, the release of the single for “Rain Is Falling” in 1982 was the band’s first single in the US to fail to reach the Top 200 since 1975, and the release of “The Way Life’s Meant to Be” similarly was their first single in the UK to fail to chart since 1976. The band embarked on their last world tour to promote the LP.

“I’d got fed up with strings by then,” says Lynne. “In those days the unions used to be so mean and strict, they would stop playing as soon as the clock got to the 12. They’d put the gear away, however far through the song you were, which I thought was a rotten trick. Because you wouldn’t do that to anybody. Bloody minded, I’d call it. So I got fed up with using strings and was really glad when the synths came in.”

The synths may have come in, but in Time, ELO released the proggiest album they had done in years: a science fiction-orientated concept album, whose bombastic opening couplet of Prologue and Twilight would later be sampled by Cher. The album topped the UK charts (the band’s only UK No.1 alongside Discovery) and boasted four popular singles, including “Hold On Tight”, “Ticket To The Moon” and “The Way Life’s Meant To Be”. ELO toured, bringing Kaminski back and bolstering their sound with Louis Clark and Dave Morgan on synthesizers. It would be their last tour for over 30 years.

“We toured America and England,” Lynne recalls. “We had the record for Wembley Stadium, until Dire Straits broke it!”

Secret Messages

Jeff Lynne wanted to follow Time with a double album, but CBS blocked his plan on the grounds that a double vinyl album would be too expensive in the oil crisis and not sell as well as a single record, so as a result, the new album was edited down from double album to a single disc and released as Secret Messages in 1983 (many of the out-takes were later released on Afterglow or as b-sides of singles with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is King” a sizeable hit in UK.

Secret Messages followed in 1983. Originally, plans for a double album were deemed over enthusiastic by their record label, and by the time the new album was released, Groucutt had left the band and Bev Bevan was drumming for Black Sabbath, so no tour was undertaken. Despite Secret Messages (the title harked back to the backwards masking on Face The Music) reaching No.4 in the UK charts, and spawning a reasonable hit in Rock’n’Roll Is King, to many observers the wind had been knocked out of the ELO sails. Bevan toured with the new Ian Gillan-fronted Black Sabbath, while Lynne and Richard Tandy worked on tracks for the Electric Dreams soundtrack.

Lynne, discouraged by the dwindling crowds on the Time tour, CBS’s order to cut Secret Messages down to one disc, and his falling out with manager Don Arden (he would eventually leave Arden and Jet by 1985), decided to end ELO in late 1983.

 In 2018, “Secret Messages” was reissued “as originally conceived” as a double album. It included several cut tracks, such as the CD exclusive bonus track “Time After Time”, B-side exclusives “Buildings Have Eyes” and “After All”, the Afterglow exclusives “Mandalay” and “Hello My Old Friend”, and the 2001 reissue exclusives “Endless Lies” and “No Way Out”

Balance Of Power

It was something of a surprise when ELO returned with Balance Of Power in 1986. Recorded as a trio of Lynne, Tandy and Bevan, it was more of a contractual obligation, but still featured some fine examples of Lynne’s songcraft in the lead single Calling America, plus So Serious and Getting To The Point. The band even played a handful of live shows, one featuring George Harrison as a guest guitarist. By 1988, when Bevan approached Lynne about reforming the band, he found the old band leader uninterested, announcing that ELO were over.

Balance of Power, released early in 1986 after some delays. Though the single “Calling America” placed in the Top 30 in the United Kingdom and went Top 20 in the States, subsequent singles failed to chart. The album lacked actual classical strings, which were replaced once again by synthesizers, played by Tandy and Lynne. However, despite being a 3-piece, much of the album was made by Lynne alone, with Tandy and Bevan giving their additions later.

After 15 years of ELO, Jeff Lynne was seeking new challenges. He was recording as a solo artist and working as writer and producer for others. When he returned to ELO (now reduced to a core of three), the whiff of contractual obligation was in the air. He’d already abandoned the classic ELO sound on 1983’s “Secret Messages”, and “Balance Of Power” completed a sorry decline into bland soft rock. It wasn’t so much bad as plain average.

“I’m actually quite pleased with the way this one turned out,” Lynne says now. But back in 86, he wasn’t so happy. Shortly after this album’s release, a tour aborted, ELO split up.

Zoom

Lynne’s comeback with ELO began in 2000 with the release of a retrospective box set, Flashback, containing three CDs of remastered tracks and a handful of out-takes and unfinished works, most notably a new version of ELO’s only UK number one hit “Xanadu”. In 2001 Zoom, ELO’s first album since 1986, was released. Though billed and marketed as an ELO album, the only returning member other than Lynne was Tandy, who performed on one track. Guest musicians included former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Upon completion of the album, Lynne reformed the band with completely new members, including his then-girlfriend Rosie Vela and announced that ELO would tour again.

A Jeff Lynne solo album in all but name, “Zoom” featured one other member of the definitive ELO line-up in keyboard player Richard Tandy, plus guest appearances from George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The album was not quite the return to the classic ELO sound that fans might have wished for, but in its best moments – notably on the elegant ballad “Moment In Paradise” – Lynne proved he could do ELO pretty much on his own. Or rather, as the old song goes, with a little help from his friends.

Former ELO member Tandy re-joined the band a short time afterwards for two television live performances: VH1 Storytellers and a PBS concert shot at CBS Television City, later titled Zoom Tour Live and released on DVD. Besides Lynne, Tandy and Vela, the new live ELO line-up included Gregg Bissonette (drums, backing vocals), Matt Bissonette (bass guitar, backing vocals), Marc Mann (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals), Peggy Baldwin (cello), and Sarah O’Brien (cello). However, the planned tour was cancelled, reportedly due to poor ticket sales.

Alone in the Universe

In September 2015, it was announced that a new ELO album would be released. The album was to be under the moniker of Jeff Lynne’s ELO, with the band signed to Columbia Records. “Alone in the Universe” The album was ELO’s first album of new material since 2001’s Zoom. The first track, and single, “When I Was a Boy” was made available for streaming on the same day and a music video for the song was also released. A small promotional tour followed the album’s release which saw Jeff Lynne’s ELO perform a full concert for BBC Radio 2 along with their first two shows in the United States in 30 years, both which sold out very quickly. The song “When I Was A Boy” was written by Jeff Lynne when he was young, he was dreaming about being a singer and a musician.

Apart from Lynne himself, only two other people were on it – his daughter Laura singing background vocals on two songs, and engineer Steve Jay playing percussion. If Lynne wanted to call it ELO, he had every right – it was always his band. And while “Alone In The Universe” was not the full-blown ELO of “Mr. Blue Sky” or “Evil Woman”, it was still a fine late-career comeback for Lynne, with a couple of beautiful and magical songs

Jeff Lynne’s ELO also made several US television appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live and CBS This Morning. A 19-date European tour was announced for 2016, with the band playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival. 

From Out of Nowhere

ELO released their 14th album, From Out of Nowhere, in November 2019.

From 2001 to 2007, Harvest Records and Epic/Legacy reissued ELO’s back catalogue. Included amongst the remastered album tracks were unreleased songs and outtakes, including two new singles. The first was “Surrender”, The other single was “Latitude 88 North”.

In 2010, Eagle Rock Entertainment released Live – The Early Years in the UK as a DVD compilation that included Fusion – Live in London (1976) along with never before released live performances at Brunel University (1973) and on a German TV show Rockpalast (1974). 

Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra is an album of re-recordings of ELO’s greatest hits, performed by Lynne exclusively, along with a new song titled “Point of No Return”. Released to coincide with Lynne’s second solo album release Long Wave, these new albums contained advertisement cards, announcing the re-release of expanded and remastered versions of both the 2001 album Zoom and Lynne’s debut solo album Armchair Theatre, originally released in 1990.

Both albums were re-released in April 2013 with various bonus tracks. Also released was the live album, Electric Light Orchestra Live, showcasing songs from the Zoom tour. All three releases also featured new studio recordings as bonus tracks.

Lynne and Tandy reunited again in 2013 to perform, under the name Jeff Lynne and Friends, performing “Livin’ Thing” and “Mr. Blue Sky” for the Children in Need Rocks concert at Hammersmith Apollo, London. The backing orchestra was the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Lynne released his first solo album, “Armchair Theatre”, in 1990, and was making a name for himself as a producer of note. He worked with George Harrison on 1987’s “Cloud Nine” (he’d join Harrison alongside Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys), Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever” (1989) and Paul McCartney’s excellent “Flaming Pie” (1997). In-between, Lynne also got to work with the remaining Beatles on the songs “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” for 1994’s Beatles Anthology project.

• The Electric Light Orchestra (1971)
• ELO 2 (1973)
• On the Third Day (1973)
• Eldorado (1974)
• Face the Music (1975)
• A New World Record (1976)
• Out of the Blue (1977)
• Discovery (1979)
• Xanadu (1980) (with Olivia Newton-John) (soundtrack album)
• Time (1981) (credited as ELO)
• Secret Messages (1983)
• Balance of Power (1986)
• Zoom (2001)
• Alone in the Universe (2015) (credited as Jeff Lynne’s ELO)
• From Out of Nowhere (2019) (credited as Jeff Lynne’s ELO)

Bruce Hornsby has announced a new album, “Flicted”, which is the final installment of his trilogy that began with 2019’s “Absolute Zero” and 2020’s “Non-Secure Connection“, albums that connected Hornsby with hipper, younger collaborators like Bon Iver, The Shins’ James Mercer, Jamila Woods, and more. 

‘Flicted continues that trend; its first single is “Sidelines,” a duet with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig that was co-written by Blake Mills who also plays guitar on the album. Long time Vampire Weekend collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid produced. Ezra is a good fit for Hornsby, as Vampire Weekend already kind of make the most fashionable possible version of boomer-era cheese, and he fits right in on this song.

The album also includes a song with Danielle Haim and one with Bon Iver collaborators Ethan Gruska and Rob Moose.

‘Flicted” drops May 27th via Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers.

For years now, Neil Young has been releasing a great deal of the music that he’s got in his archives. A few months ago, he finally dropped the previously unreleased 1987 album “Summer Songs“. Last year, meanwhile, Young also kicked off his Official Bootleg Series with the release of a live album recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1970. And now Young is planning three new live albums, all recorded in the early ’70s.

Neil Young has announced not one but three live albums, including recordings of two Los Angeles solo acoustic shows from 1971 (one at Royce Hall on January 30th and one at UCLA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on February 1st) and one from a surprise show that he played at the Bottom Line in New York in 1974.

Here’s Young accompanying himself on piano, playing “Journey Through The Past,” from the 1972 film of the same name, at Royce Hall: During Neil Young’s long and storied career, some of his concerts have gained mythic status, thanks to the practice of bootlegging. Recorded on January 30th, 1971, this previously unreleased concert was performed at gorgeous Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, near the end of the singer/songwriter’s 1971 solo tour. Young played 16 solo acoustic numbers that night, accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica. The track list features beloved classics like “Old Man”, “Heart Of Gold”, “Ohio”, “Cowgirl In The Sand”, “Don’t Let It Bring You Down”, and “Down By The River”, plus the timeless version of “The Needle And The Damage Done” that appears on 1972’s “Harvest”, one of the greatest albums of all time.

Along with the announcement comes the solo piano performance of “Journey Through the Past” at Royce Hall, the solo acoustic guitar performance of “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” from Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and a crackling, acoustic recording of “Revolution Blues” from the Bottom Line.

A famous bootleg titled I’m happy that y’all came down. A live solo acoustic show recorded at Los Angeles Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on February 1st, 1971. This was the last night of Neil’s 1971 solo tour, that also featured the shows have been released as the much-loved albums “Massey Hall” and “Young Shakespeare”. The show was marked by the first time Neil played harmonica live. This album features 15 songs including “On The Way Home”, “Heart of Gold”, “The Needle And The Damage Done”, and “A Man Needs A Maid”.

As you’d probably expect, all three are truly gorgeous. Finally, Here’s Young doing “Revolution Blues,” the gnarly “On The Beach” number that’s probably about the Manson Family, at the Bottom Line: A fan favourite bootleg that is usually called Live At The Bottom Line. A surprise solo acoustic performance following a Ry Cooder show on May 16th, 1974. Notably features songs that would be included on “On The Beach“. The album title comes from Neil introducing the opening song with that title; a song that later became “Push It Over The End”. 

These shows have all been heavily bootlegged in the past, but now they’ve gotten proper mixes. In May, Young will release two solo-acoustic shows recorded in Los Angeles from 1971 — one taped at UCLA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and another captured two days earlier at Royce Hall. He’ll also release a surprise performance that he played at New York’s Bottom Line in 1974.

All three come out May 6th via Shakey Pictures Records, with vinyl releases coming June 3rd. 

The Rolling Stones’ Live At The El Mocambo was recorded at the band’s legendary, surprise Toronto show on March 5th, 1977, when the Stones opened for local band April Wine under the name “The Cockroaches” at a 300-capacity venue. Some of the songs from that show appeared on 1977’s “Love You Live“, but now the full show is getting released on May 13th via Universal with three bonus tracks that were recorded the previous night. Two tracks are out now, “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)” and “Rip This Joint,” and both remind you how on fire the Stones were in the late ’70s.

Only four of the performances have previously appeared on the ‘Love You Live’ album in September 1977. The Stones’ Toronto club shows came about after a radio contest offered tickets to see the Canadian rock band April Wine, with support from the “Cockroaches”, who were in fact the Rolling Stones .

The set included Muddy Waters’ ‘Mannish Boy’, Bo Diddley’s ‘Crackin’ Up’, ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’ and ‘Tumbling Dice,’ and blues classics Big Maceos ‘Worried Life Blues’ and Willie Dixon’s ‘Little Red Rooster.’ Those lucky enough to attend got to hear the live debut of ‘Worried About You,’ which went on to feature on ‘Tattoo You’, plus highlights ‘Honky Tonk Women’ and ‘Hot Stuff.’

The live album announcement comes after it was recently revealed that frontman Mick got a thrill out of playing secret club gigs in between stadium shows. Joe Satriani played with Mick on his solo tour in 1988 and recalled how much satisfaction the rocker got out of playing surprise sets at bars.

“It was always great, just to see Mick turn it on when he’s literally 12 inches away from the audience. And they can touch him and everything. He loved playing blues songs and rock and roll favourites and stuff. We all got a kick out of it.”

Available on double CD, 4 LP Black Vinyl, 4 LP Neon Vinyl and digitally, the full set from the March 5th show and three bonus tracks from the March 4th show make up the track-listing. The new mix is by Bob Clearmountain – the producer who worked on the group’s 1981 LP ‘Tattoo You’.

The Rolling Stones’ legendary ‘Live At The El Mocambo concert is being released in full for the first time.

A brand new live album featuring the legendary 1977 El Mocambo shows Released on May 13th via Universal Records

For its first two decades, 4AD Records was one of the most unique, distinctive UK indie record labels. There was an enigmatic aura around it, thanks in part to founder Ivo Watts Russell who signed a lot of great gothy artists, and who presented an instantly recognizable façade via the gorgeous artwork done by in-house designer Vaughan Oliver and his 23 Envelope / v23 team. The 4AD roster during its ’80s/90s heyday was actually pretty varied, from punk to synthpop to ornate folk, and included Cocteau Twins, The Birthday Party, Bauhaus, The Wolfgang Press, Modern English, Throwing Muses, Dead Can Dance, Lush, Ultra Vivid Scene, Throwing Muses, Clan of Xymox, Colourbox, and Ivo’s own much-loved project with producer John Fryer, This Mortal Coil, to name a few. It all fit under Ivo’s singular vision.

But the ultimate 4AD act, or at least the one that seems to pull from all corners of Ivo’s taste, were Leeds band Pale Saints. Led by bassist and singer Ian Masters, Pale Saints were capable of the ethereal beauty of Cocteau Twins, the roar of Pixies, and the off-kilter quirk of Throwing Muses. Masters brought spine-tingling melodies, sung in an eerie fey falsetto, and fluid, driving basslines; Graeme Naysmith was one of the most original guitarists of the era; and drummer Chris Cooper brought both power and subtlety behind the kit. The band were lumped into the shoegaze scene — they toured with Lush and Ride in the USA but they were closer in spirit to early ’80s post-punk groups like The Sound and Echo and The Bunnymen.

The second album from one of the best bands of the original 4AD era turned 30 years old this week,

Pale Saints also had a real love for L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene, particularly Opal whose song “Fell from the Sun” they covered on their fantastic debut album, The Comforts of Madness, which was 4AD’s first album of the 1990s.

By halfway through 1990, with their debut out, Pale Saints began to feel limited by their trio line-up and recruited Meriel Barham on guitar and vocals. Meriel was a founding member of Lush who had left before their first EP. She joined just in time for 1990’s “Half-Life” EP but really made her presence felt on 1991’s “Flesh Balloon” EP that featured the gorgeous, dramatic “Hunted” and an especially dreamy cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “Kinky Love” that featured Barham on lead vocals and netted the band a minor UK hit.

For their second album, Pale Saints stayed with “Flesh Balloon” producer Hugh Jones who had worked with Modern English, The Sound, and the Bunnymen, and whose atmospheric style was a good match for the band’s sound. Jones was also a calming presence, smoothing out tensions between Masters — whose taste leaned more to the esoteric and the rest of the band who enjoyed working on the somewhat more mainstream side of indie and were interested in, you know, selling some records.

That push and pull between Masters‘ outsider tendencies and Naysmith, Cooper and Barham’s commercial interests is what makes “In Ribbons” so good. If some of the wild, ragged edges of “Comforts of Madness” have been smoothed off, the album makes up for it with scope and beauty. And there’s still no shortage of weird.

The album, which was released on March 23rd, 1992, opens brilliantly with “Throwing Back the Apple,” a track that immediately knocks you over with a tsunami of furiously strummed guitars and pounding drums before letting the tide recede to reveal shimmering guitars, heavenly Masters/Barham harmonies, and some ragged soloing by Naysmith that Frank Black and Joey Santiago might envy.

Pale Saints’ command of dynamics — their ability to build up layers of sound, knock them down, and put them together again in a slightly different and satisfying fashion — is all over “In Ribbons“. That’s best exemplified by “Hunted,” reused from the “Flesh Balloon” EP, that showcases every member of the band’s strengths. There’s high drama woven into the song’s ebb-and-flow structure with Cooper’s nuanced, rat-a-tat drumming, the textured guitarwork of Naysmith and Barham, and Masters‘ melodic basslines and haunting vocals. With moments of elegance and paint-peeling noise, “Hunted” rivals “Sight of You” as Pale Saints’ best song.

Not quite scaling those heights but coming very close are “Ordeal,” the soaring “Babymaker” (re-recorded from Half-Life) and “Thousand Stars Burst Open” which closes the album with a little Roback worship. “In Ribbons” also features a number of surreal mood pieces, including the cello-laden “Shell,” the tense, unsettling “Hair Shoes,” and “Neverending Night” which is as pretty as its title.

Barham sings lead on three tracks, two of which — “Thread of Light” and “Featherframe” — are terrific and bring a new but complimentary sound to Pale Saints. “Thread of Light” does sound a lot like Barnham’s old band but brings a level of refinement and dexterity that Lush rarely achieved. Also, no knock against Lush’s Miki Berenyi or Emma Anderson, but Barham was the better singer, too.

The best song to feature Barham, though, is one that that wasn’t on the original UK edition of “In Ribbons” but was wisely pulled up from the “Throwing Back the Apple” EP and onto the North American release of the album. It’s a cover of Slapp Happy’s 1972 song “Blue Flower,” which Roback’s post Opal band, Mazzy Star, had covered on their 1989 debut album, “She Hangs Brightly“. Where Mazzy Star’s version had smoky late night cool, Pale Saints brought a crystalline beauty, both with the delicately arpeggiated guitars and Barham’s clear voice. But when she sings “But I’m no fool, I know you’re cool / I never really wanted your heart,” the feedback swells and the band majestically hammer it out on two chords that could hypnotically go on forever. There is probably no changing the minds of Mazzy Star fans, but this is the best “Blue Flower.”

Unfortunately, the rift within Pale Saints grew after the release of In Ribbons. Masters didn’t really like to tour and a US label-mandated tour of the States with Ride, who had released their second album “Going Blank Again” just a few weeks before “In Ribbons”, proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Masters quit in 1993 and formed Spoonfed Hybrid and then ESP Summer with His Name is Alive’s Warren Defever, two projects that allowed him to spiral into his own navel. Pale Saints, meanwhile, carried on without him, recruiting Heart Throbs’ Colleen Brown on bass and making one more record — 1994’s “Slow Buildings” — which was fine but lacked that creative spark and the great songs of the first two albums.

In 2020, Beggars Arkive gave “The Comforts of Madness” a 30th anniversary reissue. “In Ribbons”, which has been out of print in physical formats since its initial release, surely deserves the same treatment.

“The Leather Lemon” is a reckoning record for the times; an album of psychedelic resurfacing, real-time response to world events, and soft, sympathetic magic. This is a collection of songs shaped by five individuals who embrace music-making as a way to centre themselves in times of uncertainty; it’s resilience and imagination given shape. “The Leather Lemon” is a true sweet-and-sour listening experience, an album as bright and clear as it is fractured and fun. Get turned UP and ON with the electrifying new lemon drop from P.E.! .

This power coupling of Brooklyn bands Pill and Eaters has just get better, Brooklyn’s groups Pill and Eaters teamed up for a one-off live performance to open for Bodega’s “Endless Scroll” release party back in 2018. They liked working together so much, both of their respective bands basically ceased to exist and they became a more highly evolved combined organism know as P.E. Pill’s Jonny Campolo, Benjamin Jaffe, and Veronica Torres bring skronk and attitude, while Eaters’ Jonathan Schenke and Bob Jones bring beats and inventive production.

Their excellent debut album came out just days before lockdown in March 2020 but they’ve thrived creatively through the pandemic, releasing the killer “The Reason for My Love” EP last year and are now back with their best record yet, the awesomely titled “The Leather Lemon”.

The production is wilder, the hooks are bigger, and everything feels more confident. Also: Torres has also all but dropped the sprechgesang delivery to reveal a terrific singing voice. 

“The Leather Lemon” has dancefloor fillers (“The Reason for My Love,” “Contradiction Of Wants”), baroque dreamstate jazz (“Magic Hands”) and even a loungy duet with Parquet Courts’ A. Savage (“Tears in the Rain”), all of which make sense together in P.E.’s unique universe.

“The perfect soundtrack for a neo-noir” – Rolling Stone

“Soft and a little sleazy” – The Fader

“They carve out deeper grooves and mine darker textures, revelling in a kind of intoxicated, nocturnal exhilaration—these songs aren’t so much heavier as denser, all of the elements that came together on Person now calcifying into crystallized solid.” – Treble (Album Of The Week)

“The quintet refines their impulses on their 2020 debut “Person” and transforms them into a body-moving EP. The jittery electronics are still there, but the drum cuts feel sharper and lighter, bringing a sense of structure to what could easily be shapeless. Vocalist Veronica Torres abandons spoken-word and leans fully into singing about poetry, beauty, and the contours of the body. Her lovely vocal stretches fill up the space once occupied by industrial bass drops. Sensuality suits them well.”

P.E. ‘s sophomore album, “The Leather Lemon” (Wharf Cat Records, out March 25th, 2022), ushers in a new era for the New York band. A wild ride through chewy bubblegum pop, sweeping synthetic orchestrations, and mutant club beats, the album slides ever closer to the fully-realized pop sensibility only winked at with their debut album “Person” (2020) and subsequent releases.

P.E. is: Jonny Campolo (piano, synths, bass, percussion, voice), Benjamin Jaffe (saxophone, synths, voice), Bob Jones (beats, samples, synths, bass, voice), Jonathan Schenke (synths, beats, bass, percussion, voice), Veronica Torres (voice, lyrics).

Wharf Cat Records, out March 25th, 2022

After two terrific albums in the early 2010s, San Francisco shoegazers Young Prisms drifted off into the ether. The music industry is tough and you can’t pay Bay Area rent with critical acclaim, and with inter band romantic entanglements, parenthood and other Real Life stuff, the band was put on the backburner. But they never broke up. At the end of the decade, Stefanie Hodapp, Gio Betteo, Matt Allen and Jordan Silbert reconnected and found they still had something to say, and were in a better place to do so. “Drifter” is Young Prisms first album in a decade and maybe their best.

They made it with Shaun Durkan of Weekend (another shoegaze band that hasn’t made a record in a while) who helped them find a balance of melody, atmosphere, beauty and noise. Too many of these groups put “dream” ahead of “pop” but “Drifter” is full of memorable songs “Outside Air,” “Yourside,” “Violet” and blissful arrangements and productions. “Honeydew,” with its mile-wide sunshine smile of a chorus, would’ve been worth reuniting for alone.

“Drifter” is a record that finds steadiness in the embrace of uncertainty. Young Prisms have always delivered stories that have remained mostly shrouded in a dreamlike state, the kind of dreams where you never quite get to where you’re aiming to go, and the ones which unravel in melancholy when you open your eyes and reality sets in.

With their first new music in ten years, the band explores the tension and release that comes with bringing your head down from the clouds and making sense of the tangible entanglements that make up everyday existence. “You’ve spent your whole life wondering if you’ll ever live up to your own expectations, but one day realize that it’s ok to just be a normal, boring human. You’re used to running away from life because you hate yourself and now you are pleasantly surprised by a new feeling to let go and accept yourself,” explains lead vocalist Stefanie Hodapp.

Released March 25th, 2022

Band: Stefanie Hodapp, Gio Betteo, Matt Allen & Jordan Silbert

One of the most promising bands of the early 2010s was from Cardiff, Joanna Gruesome who mixed punk and indie pop into big pop hooks with big feelings. Singer Alanna McArdle left the group in 2015; they carried on for a while without her but they fell apart not long after. So it was great news in 2018 that McArdle and Owen Williams, who wrote most of Joanna Gruesome’s songs, were forming a new band, Ex-Vöid. Four years and a couple singles later, we’ve got their terrific debut album.

The bright melodies and wonderful harmonies that distinguished Joanna Gruesome are still here, but they’ve mellowed out just a little, owing more to the 12-string jangle of Gene Clark and the descending chord progressions of Big Star than anything on indie-pop touchstone C-86.

They keep things short and punchy, with songs acting as pure hook delivery devices that rarely need more than two minutes to lodge in your brain, though they do make a little time for some flashy twin lead soloing. McArdle and Williams’ voices sound great together even when singing the same melody, but when the harmonies kick in on tracks like “Chemical Reaction,” “Churchyard,” and “Boyfriend,” Ex-Vöid soar.

Debut album from former leaders of Joanna Gruesome finds their power pop powers still intact released through Don Giovanni Records

Cassandra Jenkins and Wednesday have released new songs as part of Secretly Canadian’s ongoing 25th Anniversary celebration. For “Pygmalion,” Cassandra recorded at the famed Abbey Road studios in London, backed by members of Glaswegian band Lylo. It’s a real slow-burn of a song, with Cassandra delivering a particularly smoky vocal. “The lyrics in this song revisit the story of Pygmalion, the Greek mythological figure who, scornful towards women, falls in love with an ivory statue of his own making,” says Cassandra. “When the sculpture comes to life, they live happily ever after.

Through today’s lens, we might view this as a tale of an incel who falls for his ivory sex doll, and one that lacks any trace of the female voice. I wanted to give the statue a chance to speak, and to address Pygmalion directly as he begins to carve her likeness according to his vision.”

Cassandra continues, “The result is short & bittersweet, expressing part menace, sarcasm, and exhaustion, and part lucidity. I wrote it in a moment when I was frustrated by a relationship, and recorded it while I was on tour (at Abbey Road Studios). I was thinking about how easy it is to box each other into moulds, and to impose our solipsistic ideals upon other people, only to be disappointed when they exhibit their true character. In that equation, everyone misses out, and there’s so much more to be gained from burning down ancient ideals. This song aims to strike the match.”

Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman admits their song, “Feast of Snakes,” was inspired by a classic Secretly Canadian artist. “I 100% ripped off the chords for this song from Jason Molina’s ‘Almost Was Good Enough.’ When I wrote it I had just finished reading his biography ‘Riding With the Ghost’ which has a ton of information about Molina’s music and by extension the beginnings of Secretly. I thought channelling his music for our contribution to SC25 would be fitting!”

Proceeds from these songs go towards Secretly Canadian’s $250,000 fundraising goal for the Bloomington-based, gender-inclusive emergency housing solution, New Hope For Families